Life and Longing on the Road to Redemption
by H-FREAK
Summary: Faith and Giles discuss their rocky paths. Written for the Comic Covers Ficathon run by LJ User Deird1.


**Fandom**: BtVS**  
Title**: Life and Longing on the Road to Redemption  
**Characters/Pairing**: Faith/Giles  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Warnings**: *shrug*  
**Summary**: Faith and Giles discuss their rocky paths.

**A/N**: Written for the **Comic Covers Ficathon (now with less comics)** run by LJ User **Deird1** for the cover to Buffy Season 8: Issue #24 "Safe".

**1)** Choose a Jo Chen cover from season 8.  
**2)** Write a fic that has nothing to do with the plot of season 8, for which the cover would still make sense.

**:::**

**:::**

"Ah, Faith, there you are," Giles noted happily as the brunette Slayer made her way across the living room of 1630 Revello Drive, treading carefully around the mess of empty sleeping bags. Giles was standing in the dining room next to yet another sleeping bag, this one newly added.

"You weren't kiddin' about having to squeeze me in, huh?" Faith asked as she arrived within a more comfortable speaking distance.

"Yes, I'm afraid the house has become rather full, as of late," said Giles with a sigh. "The basement is nearly empty, but you would have to share it with our resident vampire."

"Here's cool," Faith assured him passively.

"I thought it might be."

"Kinda nice having him around though," Faith reflected.

"I'm sorry?" asked Giles blankly.

"Seems like most people are too busy bein' scared about him to be scared about me," she clarified. "Refreshing, you know?"

"I suppose it would be," Giles acknowledged.

"I mean, I was wicked nervous about comin' back here," Faith confessed, "turns out it wasn't so bad."

"Things are rarely as terrifying as we imagine them to be," said Giles wisely.

They both shifted restlessly as an awkward silence settled between them.

"Why am I here?" Faith asked suddenly.

Giles seemed surprised by the question and his expression became thoughtful.

"I mean, why would you guys want me, of all people?" Faith tried to clarify.

"Well, the short answer is because you are the Slayer."

"That's a joke and a half," Faith retorted with a harsh laugh. "Buffy's the Slayer."

"In point of fact, she isn't," Giles corrected her. "She hasn't been _the_ Slayer for quite some time."

"'Cause there's two?" Faith inquired.

"More or less."

Giles walked past her, crossing the living room. Faith followed, again watching her step as they passed the sleeping bags of a dozen or more potential Slayers. Stopping at the weapons chest, Faith waited curiously to see what was on Giles' mind.

"Willow tells me that someone made an attempt on your life recently?" Giles verified.

"Yeah," Faith answered blankly.

"And they used a – uh – 'nasty looking knife'?"

"Yeah," Faith repeated as Giles opened the weapons chest.

"Like this one?" He pulled out a Bringer's knife, collected from one of the group's many encounters with the minions of The First. One glance told Faith that it was the same weapon that had been used against her in the prison yard.

"We have a winner," said Faith dryly.

"I thought as much when Willow mentioned it." Giles returned the knife to its place in the weapons chest. "The Bringers, agents of The First, use those knives. The Council had discovered several of them in the – the bodies of potential Slayers. Why The First has decided to target you now is a bit of a mystery. We had thought The First's plan was to exterminate the potential Slayers and then go after you and Buffy; this change in tactics is somewhat disquieting. As usual, The First seems to know something we don't," Giles admitted with a sigh. "However, we do know that if it wants you out of the way then you must be very important to our cause."

"Funny, it almost sounds like you mean that," Faith mused.

"All this time and you still don't have faith in yourself?" Giles questioned.

"Really?" Faith replied with a roll of her eyes as she had a seat on the arm of Buffy's couch.

"Confidence would, perhaps, have been a better word," Giles corrected himself.

"I've got confidence," Faith assured him, "just don't make it sound like I'm Buffy, 'cause I'm not." Her gaze fell to the floor. "I never will be."

"Of course you won't be Buffy," said Giles levelly, "but you're every bit as capable as her. There's no reason you couldn't be an equally powerful warrior and an example to these girls."

"Example," Faith scoffed derisively. "Hey, girls, wanna learn how to kill people?"

"That can only continue to define you if you allow it to," said Giles sagely.

"It does define me," Faith argued. "I'm a killer and she's not; that's always gonna be the score."

"Are you really so naïve as to think Buffy hasn't killed?" Giles challenged.

Faith stared at him blankly.

"Within a few weeks of coming to Sunnydale she tossed a zookeeper into a pit of hungry hyenas," offered Giles readily. "Two years ago she killed ten of the Knights of Byzantium while defending Dawn."

Keeping her eyes locked on the floor, Faith waited silently for further explanation.

"It was never about the fact of the deaths," Giles informed her.

"It was 'cause I said I didn't care," Faith finished for him.

"That would be the sum of it, yes."

"Not exactly sure if that makes me feel better or not," said Faith with a heavy sigh.

"None of us is without our share of mistakes, Faith," said Giles kindly. "We've all done things we wish we hadn't done. Or things we wish we hadn't had to do," he added thoughtfully. "But it's perseverance that makes us strong."

"Sounds like you got something specific on your mind," Faith noted, surveying the Watcher with curiosity.

"Hmm," Giles muttered, obviously becoming distracted by his thoughts. "Oh – it's nothing."

"Aw, don't leave me hangin' like that," Faith complained. "What's the what, Giles? Have you been a naughty librarian?"

"Oh dear Lord," said Giles, blushing at the reference.

"So spill it," Faith persisted. "What's twistin' your knickers?"

"Don't use English words," Giles chided wearily.

"What'd you do that you wish didn't have to?" Faith pressed, ignoring Giles' protests.

"Do you really believe that the information will benefit you?"

"Might help me feel better about myself," said Faith with a shrug. "If someone like you can make mistakes, then maybe there really is hope for me."

"Well, I don't view what I did as a mistake," Giles corrected her impression, "but, if you must know, I killed a man."

"Oh." Faith was brought up short by the revelation.

"I nearly told Buffy about it just recently," Giles continued, "though I decided that was unlikely to help me win the argument, even if it did prove my point."

"You don't feel bad about it?" asked Faith with raised eyebrows.

"I do," Giles assured her, "but it was what needed to be done."

"Was he a bad guy then? Like those knights that Buffy killed?"

"He wasn't especially evil," said Giles levelly, "no worse than any other human. However, a Hell-God had possessed his body and killing him was the only way to assure that she wouldn't return."

"Practice that a few times?" Faith questioned. "I got a little experience rationalizing stuff," she added in response to his inquisitive glance.

"Part of it might be rationalization," Giles allowed, "but I truly believe that no better options were available."

"You ever wish you didn't care?"

"Frequently," admitted Giles. "Though I've found that a good apocalypse tends to keep one sufficiently distracted."

"Guess it would," Faith agreed.

"And a good scotch can dull most pain."

"Among other things," said Faith with a sly grin.

"Yes, well," Giles mumbled, momentarily losing his train of thought. "I must say, I really wish I had more of my books."

"Figures," said Faith with a short laugh. "Some things never change, huh?"

"I feel so unprepared without a proper library at my disposal."

"What, they don't have one at the school?"

"It's a travesty," Giles informed her, his tone saturated with disdain. "The old library was so much more useful."

"I dream about it sometimes," said Faith, suddenly recalling the fact.

"How's that?"

"The old library," Faith clarified. "I have all sorts of dreams about it. I'm just runnin' through all these stacks of books and I can't find my way out."

"Curious. Perhaps it's something symbolic of the Hellmouth," Giles ventured.

"And then I turn a corner and I see you," she continued. "You got this look on your face like you're trying to figure me out or something. We stare each other down for a few minutes and then you finally decide you're gonna show me the way out."

"Anything else?"

"Well," Faith hesitated, a perfectly measured and deliberate action. She moved to a standing position and began shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"What is it?"

"Sometimes I keep thinkin' about it when I wake up," Faith admitted. "I like to add on to the ending. We go back to your place and – well, let's just say we're not having tea and crackers."

"Oh," Giles' tone shot up an octave in surprise. "I see." He reached for his glasses.

"Don't clean your glasses," Faith snapped, "look at me, you English ponce."

"Don't call me a ponce," retorted Giles immediately, meeting Faith's eyes.

"Interested?" Faith asked him boldly, holding his gaze with an intense stare of her own.

"Well, um," Giles' face flushed with embarrassment.

"You _are_," Faith noted delightedly, flashing a self-satisfied grin.

"It wouldn't be appropriate," Giles mumbled, eyes flickering downward just briefly.

"Bet that gets you off, doesn't it?" said Faith in a sultry tone, taking a step closer.

"A Slayer-Watcher relationship involves a trust that shouldn't be-"

"I don't have a Watcher," Faith countered. "Didn't you hear? I went rogue."

She brought a hand up to his face and felt his cheek warm beneath her touch.

"So," she drawled, allowing her fingers to slide slowly down to his neck, "what d'you say?"


End file.
